STEVEN ALFORD/CALLER-TIMES
About $2.5 million has been placed on Proposition 3 of the city's 2012 bond election to replace the city sign shop which has a rusty, leaky roof and cracks in the floors.

STEVEN ALFORD/CALLER-TIMES
City officials have placed funds on the 2012 bond election list to replace the city's sign shop and make improvements to other public works buildings.

STEVEN ALFORD/CALLER-TIMES
Signs and debris can be seen outside the city's sign shop on Leopard Street.

STEVEN ALFORD/CALLER-TIMES
Makeshift wall patches can be seen outside the city's sign shop on Leopard Street, where water floods the floors after rain showers.

STEVEN ALFORD/CALLER-TIMES file
Corpus Christi officials have placed $1.15 million in improvements to the Southside animal shelter on Proposition 3 of the 2012 bond election. The funds would convert its euthanizing room into additional adoption and office space, and create an add-on for euthanization.

CORPUS CHRISTI - Of the $89.7 million city officials have placed on November's bond election, $4.75 million is earmarked for improvements to city service center operations.

Proposition 3 calls for roof repairs, building expansions and upgrades to four city facilities: the streets and solid waste administration building; fleet maintenance building; sign and signal operations shop; and the city's animal shelter.

The proposition includes $300,000 for roof repairs to the streets and solid waste building where water leaks through, and $450,000 to demolish an aging storage shed and build anew.

The bond also calls for $350,000 to replace portions of a leaky roof at the fleet maintenance office, and the purchase of new lighting and heating equipment. There's also $2.5 million requested to replace the rusty, archaic city sign shop on Leopard Street, and for an overhead crane for operations.

Finally, the bond would provide $1.15 million for expansions at the Southside animal shelter, converting its euthanizing room into additional adoption and office space, and creating an add-on for euthanization. The past few months, city staff have made inventories of some of the biggest needs at more than 400 city buildings, and those on Proposition 3 constitute some of the highest priorities.

"This is essential maintenance," City Manager Ron Olson said recently.

Olson described being able to see the sky through one facility roof, and finding trash cans scattered about in another building to collect rain from its leaky roof.

City engineer Dan Biles also described working conditions at the targeted facilities as a staff risk.

At the city's sign shop, employees said cracks in the floor, walls and roof leak water when it rains, leaving inches of water on the floor.

"It's almost a safety hazard just to work in that today," Biles said of those facilities that require repairs.